Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted ‘search’ for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The ‘real’ is about to be put back into ‘reality’ television and Calvin and his fellow judges (the nation’s favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex-factors themselves.

Ben Elton, author of Popcorn and Dead Famous returns to blistering comic satire with a savagely hilarious deconstruction of the world of modern television talent shows.

Chart Throb. One winner. A whole bunch of losers.

With several high-profile public projects going belly up, the opening of the Eden Project in Cornwall in March 2001 had many holding their breath. Would this Living Theatre of Plants and People prove to be another spectacular failure or the astonishing adventure we were promised? The hundreds of thousands of visitors who have voted with their feet by visiting the project since March prove quite categorically that this is a success, and it is salutary how under-reported this success has been compared to better-known failures. But all of that will change with this (and with several other new books and TV programmes) which celebrates an ambitious project. Smit tells the remarkable story of the Eden Project, of its conception and construction, and the many larger-than-life personalities involved. Smit’s track record, of course, includes The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the same skills are more than evident here.

Lee Child has had his readers biting their fingernails even more insistently than usual since his last novel. The author usually delivers one book a year featuring his laconic, super-resourceful hero Jack Reacher, but we were informed by his publishers that there would be a very briskly delivered successor to the last book, 61 Hours — and the reason was not hard to see. A significant number of Reacher admirers had been startled by the fact that the ex-military policeman appeared to be dead at the end of his latest outing. But we can relax — here’s the new book, Worth Dying For, with the tough Mr Reacher alive and kicking, and more than ready for another helping of pulse-raising action.

Initially, we are not told how Jack Reacher survived the seemingly-terminal events of the last book, as he makes his way south to an unwelcoming part of Nebraska in the dead of winter. He fetches up in a town in the grip of the powerful, manipulative Duncan family, and the cowed townspeople have no fight left in them. In a sleazy hotel, he encounters the town’s alcoholic doctor, and the two end up driving to a house where they come across a grim case of domestic violence. And Child admirers won’t be surprised to learn that Jack’s life is soon on the line — as usual. The stage is set for violent confrontation.

One girl: Vida is nineteen, very sick, and has spent her short life preparing for death. But a new chance brings its own story, because for Vida to live, someone had to die.

One man: Richard has just lost his beloved wife in a car accident. He hasn’t even begun to address his grief, but feels compelled to meet the girl who inherited his wife’s heart.

Someone else’s heart: In hospital Vida sees Richard and immediately falls in love. Of course he dismisses her as a foolish child. But is she? Can two people be bound by a second hand heart?

As Chief of the General Staff, Sir Richard Dannatt was in overall command of the British army for the three years from 2006. This period saw some of the fiercest fighting yet in Afghanistan, and new and increased pressures and expectation placed on the army. From his very first day in the job General Dannatt proved himself a courageous leader and a forceful advocate for the army, never shying from controversy to tell it as he found it.

Dannatt’s distinguished career in the army has spanned thirty-eight years and seen him serve in many different theatres of conflict, from Northern Ireland (where he was awarded the Military Cross) to Bosnia and Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His experiences forged his unwavering loyalty to the fighting British soldier. More than any leader in recent times, Dannatt has used his position of command to argue for improved pay and conditions for British soldiers, a greater dialogue between the army and the country, the right equipment for the troops to do the job asked of them, and greater welfare and support back home for the wounded. His leadership has shaped the debate about the role of a modern army in modern warfare.

Leading from the Front is Richard Dannatt’s fascinating reflection on a life of military service and offers his characteristically frank analysis of whether Britain’s defence strategy is fit to respond to the threats we will face in the 21st century.

Long regarded an anachronism and a thorn in the side of its superiors, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is to be disbanded. For octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, it seems retirement is now the only option. But then a headless body is found in a freezer, and on the perimeter of a massive construction site near King’s Cross, a gigantic figure has been spotted – dressed in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives and suddenly, with limited resources and very little time, the PCU are back in business… In the panoply of great fictional detective duos, Bryant & May rank alongside (and somewhere in between) Holmes & Watson and Mulder & Scully…